they beheld only the forest and the forest people.

"I don't think I ever saw the game so tame before," said Henry.

"Which means," said Sol, "that the warriors ain't hunted here fur a long
time. I ain't seen a single sign o' them."

"Nor I."

They fell silent and scarcely spoke until the sun was setting again, when
they stopped for the night, choosing a conspicuous place, as Sol had done
the evening before. After supper, they sought soft places on the turf, and
lay in peace, gazing up at the great stars. Henry was the first to break
the silence.

"One is coming," he said. "I can hear the footstep. Listen!"

His ear was to the earth, and the shiftless one imitated him. At the end
of a minute he spoke.

"Yes," he said, "I hear him, too. We'll make him welcome."

He rose, put a fresh piece of wood on the fire, and smiled, as he saw the
flame leap up and crackle merrily.

"Here he is," said Henry.

The figure that emerged from the bushes was thick-set and powerful, the
strong face seamed and tanned by the wind, rain and sun of years. The man
stepped into the circle of the firelight, and held out his hand. Each
shook it with a firm and hearty clasp, and Tom Ross took his seat with
them beside the fire. They handed him food first, and then he said:

"I was away up in the Miami country, huntin' buffalo, when the word came
to me, Sol, but I quit on the minute an' started."

"I was shore you would," said the shiftless one quietly. "Buffaloes are
big game, but we're huntin' bigger now."

"I was never in this part of the country before," said Tom Ross, looking
around curiously at the ghostly tree trunks.

"I've been through here," said Henry, "and it runs on in the same way for
hundreds of miles in every direction."

"Bigger an' finer than any o' them old empires that Paul used to tell us
about," said Shif'less Sol.

"Yes," said Henry.

The three looked at one another significantly.

They wrapped themselves in their blankets by and by, and went to sleep on
the soft turf. Henry was the first to awake, just when the dawn was
turning from pink to red, and a single glance revealed to him an object on
the horizon that had not been there the night before. A man stood on the
crest of a low hill, and even at the distance, Henry recognized him. His
comrades were awaking and he turned to them.

"See!" he said, pointing with a long forefinger.

Their eyes followed, and they too recognized the man.

"He'll be here